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Part 2 with Navy Corpsman Mike Rakebrandt about the hidden weight a senior line Corpsman carries in Ramadi, from quiet BAS check-ins to making split-second calls that keep Marines alive. We also discuss what hits hardest on the way home: Gold Star families, survivor’s guilt, and a system that does not follow up when the war is over. 

• how BAS conversations keep doubt from spiraling 
• the homecoming moments
• talking with Gold Star families and answering impossible questions 
• missions that stand out, including Bug Hunt and House Party 
• Operation Traveler and keeping a badly wounded detainee alive
• friction between field medical care and medical staff 
• non-combat medicine that impacts readiness, from flu to abscesses 
• the Purple Heart curse 
• handoff lessons to the incoming unit 
• survivor’s guilt, anxiety, and feeling like two different people 
• the lack of meaningful post-deployment medical follow-up 

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If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM